The invention relates to tire building machinery, especially servicers which are used to store and supply unvulcanized rubber sidewall stock to an operator who is building an unvulcanized tire on a tire building drum.
At present, sidewall stock is formed, cut-to-length, and stored in horizontal trays which are separated from each other to prevent damage to the shape of the stock. The tire builder removes two pieces of stock from the trays of the servicer and applies them, by hand, to the unvulcanized, cord reinforced tire carcass being built on the tire building drum. Frequent handling of the unvulcanized stock causes stretching and distortion of the rubber, so that a serious hump can be formed in the sidewall by a piece of overly stretched stock. The hump produces a pocket in which air becomes trapped to adversely affect adhesion between the stock and adjacent components of the tire.
The invention is designed to provide a cut-to-length piece of sidewall stock which is immediately applied to the tire building drum without handling by the operator, thereby eliminating or substantially reducing any distortion of the unvulcanized rubber stock, prior to its use in the tire building process.